136 
ROBIN. 
thing fragrance. By the usual association of ideas, we there- 
fore listen with more pleasure to this cheerful bird than to many 
others possessed of far superior powers, and much greater vari- 
ety. Even his nest is held more sacred among schoolboys than 
that of some others; and while they will exult in plundering a 
Jay’s or a Cat-bird’s, a general sentiment of respect prevails on 
the discovery of a Robin’s. Whether he owes not some little of 
this veneration to the well known and long established charac- 
ter of his namesake in Britain, by a like association of ideas, I 
will not pretend to determine. He possesses a good deal of his 
suavity of manners; and almost always seeks shelter for his 
young in summer, amd subsistence for himself in the extremes 
of winter, near the habitations of man. 
The Robin inhabits the whole of North America from Hud- 
son’s bay to Nootka sound, and as far south as Georgia, though 
they rarely breed on this side the mountains farther south than 
Virginia. Mr. F orster says, that about the beginning of May they 
make their appearance in pairs at the settlements of Hudson’s 
bay, at Severn river; and adds, a circumstance altogether un- 
worthy of belief, viz. that at Moose fort they build, lay and 
hatch in fourteen days! but that at the former place, four de- 
grees more north, they are said to take twenty-six days.* They 
are also common in Newfoundland, quitting these northern 
parts in October. The young during the first season are spotted 
with white on the breast, and at that time have a good deal of 
resemblance to the Fieldfare of Europe. 
Mr. Hearne informs us, that the red-breasted Thrushes, are 
commonly called at Hudson’s bay the Red-birds; by some the 
Blackbirds, on account of their note; and by others the Ame- 
rican Fieldfares. That they make their appearance at Churchill 
river about the middle of May, and migrate to the south early 
in the fall. They are seldom seen there but in pairs; and are 
never killed for their flesh except by the Indian boys.t 
* Phil. Trans. Ixii, 399. 
t Journey to the Northern Ocean, p. 418, quarto. Lond. 1795. 
